SPEAK OUT

Ants ready to retire

THE OLD fable of the ant and the grasshopper illustrates the situation of those old grasshoppers on fixed incomes complaining about escalating costs. Take it from an old ant: old age is not a result of an evil, conservative plot, and it is not an emergency. We ants prepared for it, while the grasshoppers fiddled around.

Anti-littering law

MISSOURI HAS an anti-littering law with penalties up to $1,000. The county may wish to start its investigation of state laws with that statute.

Taking the rap

IT WAS reported that a woman was sentenced to five years for murder. Her sentence was reduced to five months. I know a person who is in Jackson jail for having marijuana in his car that was put there by a friend. The friend is on probation. The person in jail has served three months. He took the rap for the friend. Something's wrong here.

Japanese apology

YES, WE dropped atom bombs on Japan. But that was because the peace treaties were discussed and discussed, and the Japanese would not back down and would not stop fighting. The Japanese need to apologize for their attack on Pearl Harbor and the deaths that resulted.

True Democrat

BOB HOLDEN was at a protest rally in St. Louis saying President Bush should do something about gas and energy prices. He said natural gas prices rose 350 percent last year. Propane prices rose 82 percent last year. He forgot that Clinton was president last year when it happened. Now he is trying to blame Bush. Holden is a true Democrat.

Troublemakers in park

I'D LIKE to voice a complaint about children running over other small children in Capaha Park. These children are there unsupervised. They are running over younger children and spitting in their faces. They dare anyone to report them or intervene. This needs to be brought to someone's attention.

Muffle the boom boxes

I WISH the Cape Girardeau Police Department would crack down on all these boom boxes.

Crime statistics

A SPEAK Out caller was asking the question, "Why are blacks stopped by police more than whites?" The caller wants it to be more fair. Let's be honest. By percentage, blacks commit more crimes and are only 18 percent of the population. Wouldn't a police officer be more suspicious of a violation by a black person? A change in the percentage of black crime would change the pull-over rate. This is a serious problem in the black community. And anyone who mentions this is called racist or bigot.

Taking the punishment

THIS IS in response to the call by the person, obviously a Democrat, who can't get his facts straight, and I quote, "Bush's two daughters have both been arrested twice for drinking." That's wrong. One was charged twice and one was charged once. There's a big difference between Bill Clinton and Bush's daughters. Clinton was the man in office. He was the one who took the oath. When he got caught doing something, he flat-out lied over and over, even to a federal prosecutor. In the case of the Bushes, no one has come forward to say that this is a lie. They're letting the girls take their punishments, just as they should. Furthermore, the daughters aren't the ones in the White House. Yes, these girls have done something wrong, but it's something many teens do. But they're not the president. I'm not judging Bush by what his children do. They're grown adults. But I do judge Clinton by the things he did while in office. Bush is making his children take their punishment, and he's keeping his mouth shut. I wish some of you callers would do the same thing.

Not likely to happen

FOR MISSOURI Gov. Bob Holden, a Democrat, to heed the advice of the Southeast Missourian editorial staff would be comparable to George Bush seeking guidance from Osama Bin Laden.

Above-average children

POLITICIANS AND educators must keep in mind that every parent sincerely believes that his or her child is multi-talented and has the intellectual potential to be a nuclear scientist, and all that is necessary for the child to reach his or her potential is the right teacher or the right educational program. Parents may not be too certain about the talents and intellectual potential of other people's children, but they have no doubt about their own child.

Not to worry

IF YOU want a safe community and you're a law-abiding citizen, why should you be upset at being checked or questioned by law enforcement if you have nothing to hide? On the other hand if you have an outstanding warrant and are a menace to society, I can see your problem. Thank God we have people in the community who care about decent folks' security and crime prevention.

Hourly price changes

WHY IS it that when I go to work in the morning, gas is one price, at lunch it's another, and when I go home in the evening it's another? Seems to me someone, somewhere is gambling with our hard-earned dollars hourly. Is there anybody out there who could look into this and tells us why?

Beyond our capacity

"IT IS beyond the scope of this column to convince you ... of the existence of absolute truth," sayeth David Limbaugh. I'm a big fan of Limbaugh's and his powers of persuasion, but when it comes to the above claim, I must add that proving absolute truth may also be beyond the scope of our capacity.

A police state

THE IDAHO police action was akin to several police actions of recent memory: Ruby Ridge where an overzealous FBI agent shoots and kills a mother and child on their own property, and Waco where scores of U.S. citizens were killed because they were rumored to be armed. Now we find the FBI thinks it's OK to withhold evidence because they don't think it's relevant in the Timothy McVeigh case. It's not their call. There is something wrong here. We are becoming a police state.